KABUL Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) on Thursday said it was concerned about the harsh impacts of the war on residents in northern Kunduz province, saying the recent conflict had caused over $100 million in losses.
Azarakhsh Hafezi, ACCI international relations committee head, expressed these views after distributing aid to displaced families from Kunduz in Kabul.
“Kunduz suffered a lot from the latest conflict. People’s shops were damaged, residential and business areas torched and government departments marauded and damaged,” he said.
Hafizi said most of Afghanistan’s $23 billion gross domestic income came from five major economic centres and Kunduz was one of them. He named the remaining economic hubs as Herat, Kandahar, Nangarhar and Mazar-i-Sharif.
“Based on our estimates, the break in economic activity in Kunduz caused four to five million dollars in losses per day and it’s the investors and government who bore the brunt,” he added.
He said the conflict in Kunduz had inflicted more than $100 million in losses on the people and government and a rise in the losses was plausible.
Given the economic damage to Kunduz, he said, it was imperative that the government take emergency steps for revitalizing the economy of Kunduz.
The ACCI’s assistance including a 50-kg bag of flour, 25-kg bag of rice, a 5-kg cane of ghee and a blanket per family were distributed to over 1,000 families.
Khan Jan Alokozai, ACCI deputy head, said the aid valued at $100,000 and it was for a second time the ACCI was providing assistance to the displaced families. He said they were planning to assist another 2,000 families as well.
Mohammadin Hamdard, a Meshrano Jirga member from Kunduz, said the Emergency Response Committee, the Disaster Preparedness Agency and other departments had assisted some families with cash and transportation who wished to return home. The first group of families, he said, left Kabul for Kunduz on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the National Directorate of Security (NDS) said its employees collected 2.5 million afghanis out of their salaries and distributed to 500 displaced families in Kabul.
According to the Refugee and Repatriation ministry, more than 20,000 families — 100,000 people — have been displaced to many neighboring province and capital Kabul from Kunduz.
The Taliban insurgents overrun Kunduz city on September 28 for three days, before it was retaken by Afghan security forces.
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